


There's Never Been a Moment You Were Forgotten

by Sendryl



Category: Naruto
Genre: A mother's love is a powerful thing, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Danzo starts turning Konoha against the Uchiha much earlier, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Konoha is good overall and most of them just need a bit of a push to get their heads on straight, M/M, No Uchiha Massacre, Not Canon Compliant, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Soulmates share injuries, Uchiha Clan-centric, Uchiha Mikoto-centric, Uchiha Sasuke-centric, Uzumaki Naruto Gets a Hug, Uzumaki Naruto Needs a Hug, We Take Canon Gently by the Throat and YEET
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:48:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22284370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sendryl/pseuds/Sendryl
Summary: Sasuke's soulmate marks start appearing early, fingerpainted bruises appearing and vanishing over the space of a few breaths.After two years of searching, Fugaku and Mikoto conclude that Sasuke’s soulmate is not an Uchiha.Meanwhile, Itachi and Shisui have been taking a long hard look at the way the village views the Uchiha, and have come to some conclusions of their own - mainly that the Uchiha need to change if they want to survive, and one way or another they're going to make that happen.
Relationships: Uchiha Fugaku/Uchiha Mikoto, Uchiha Itachi & Uchiha Mikoto, Uchiha Itachi & Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi/Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Mikoto & Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 336
Kudos: 1161





	1. I Hear You Whisper Underneath Your Breath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soulmate AU
> 
> When a person is injured, the injury briefly appears on their soulmate then heals.
> 
> This was supposed to be a fluffy "Nart gets hurt and Sask finds him and they're soulmates yay"...
> 
> Instead, have a family frantically searching for a way to stop their son's pain as the world turns against them.
> 
> Child abuse mentions in the end notes.

The marks start appearing early, earlier than Itachi’s had, than her own had, earlier than anyone Mikoto has heard of, within or without the clan.

Far too early.

The first time Mikoto sees bruises appear and disappear on Sasuke’s skin, he’s barely a year old.

She’s giving him an early bath while Fugaku is learning all about Itachi’s day at the Academy. Dinner had been as lovely and peaceful as ever, up until she decided to give Sasuke tomatoes for the first time. His eyes had widened after the first bite, and judging by the speed at which he shoveled them into his mouth, she might never get him to eat anything else ever again.

Tomatoes will have to become a “sometimes food”, as Shinobi Street puts it, if only because he’d gotten them absolutely _everywhere._

She only lets Sasuke watch television when Fugaku is out of the compound, worried about what he might say, but she hopes the lessons taught by the children’s shows will stick in Sasuke’s head.

Sometimes she’ll catch Itachi watching with them, hiding himself from everything except a mother’s intuition.

Whenever that happens she calls out for him to come watch Sasuke while she prepares a snack, so hopefully Itachi will absorb some of the lessons as well. She knows he won’t be learning proper socialization from anyone in the compound, so having a little help is a blessing.

It seems to be working, looking at the way he cares for Sasuke and his blossoming friendship with Shisui.

Sasuke splashes her with a laugh, calling her attention back to her youngest son, her precious baby boy, and she tickles him with her fingertips as he giggles and shrieks.

He shrieks again, louder, and at first Mikoto thinks he’s just ramping up to more laughter, but then she sees the tears.

“Sasuke?!”

He’s _screaming_ now, his face screwed up and his arms clenched tight to his sides, and Mikoto scoops him up out of the bath, soaking her fine clothes without care.

He keeps screaming, jerking away from her, and he’s slippery and she’s worried she’ll drop him, and even the knowledge that she’d catch him again in an instant can’t stop her calling out for her husband in a panic.

“ _Fugaku!_ ”

She can hear two sets of running footsteps but there’s no time to worry about what Itachi might see, she needs to figure out why Sasuke, her precious child, her baby boy, is screaming like he’s _dying_.

Fugaku is suddenly there, wrapping his arms around hers, supporting her grip on their son, and Itachi has a soft towel to wrap around Sasuke and keep him safe. They’re asking questions and trying to talk to her but Mikoto can’t focus on them right now. She needs to find what’s hurting her baby.

The water was a fine temperature, there’s no blood, nothing looks broken or twisted or-

_No._

She knows by their sudden stillness that Itachi and Fugaku see it at the same time she does.

A series of bruises slowly fading into view on Sasuke’s arms.

One, two, three, four, paired finger-length marks appearing on his arms, and when Sasuke twists away with a wince and a whimper they can see another pair of bruises forming, a dark palm and thumb to match the four fingers.

As if someone has taken Sasuke by the arms and squeezed as hard as they could.

“His soulmate,” Itachi breathes, frightened and awed at once, and Mikoto meets Fugaku’s eyes with a depthless horror shared between them.

“His soulmate must be older,” Itachi says, taking Sasuke from Mikoto’s limp arms and soothing him. Sasuke’s crying is quieter now, the bruises fading as swiftly as they came, faster than the usual ten-second fade. Mikoto isn’t going to question it though, and she wraps her arms around her sons, Fugaku still wrapped around her in turn.

They stand there for a few moments, until Sasuke starts to squirm again, quieter now, and Itachi tickles him just to reassure himself that his brother will still laugh the same way.

“Okaasan? They must be older, right?” He asks, and through watery eyes Mikoto can see both her sons staring at her, her baby weary and her six-year-old afraid, looking to her for solace.

“Yes,” she answers, “they must be older.”

And Fugaku tightens his hold on her, silently agreeing.

Because the alternative simply isn’t possible.

***

That’s only the first time though.

There are many others.

Sasuke regularly bursts into tears all through the following year, finger-painted bruises appearing and vanishing over the space of a few breaths.

The Uchiha have always looked for their children’s soulmates as soon as the first marks appear. The other clans take their time or let soulmates find each other on their own, but doing so has never made sense to Mikoto. If you know your soulmate is waiting for you, why wouldn’t you try to find them?

Usually the first marks are from toddler’s falls or children’s play, scuffed knees or bruised elbows, and Uchiha parents easily find the child they are searching for within the compound. Itachi and Shisui had gotten matching bumps on their foreheads from Shisui running headlong into his kitchen counter.

With that in mind, Mikoto and Fugaku look at the other Uchiha, first, at the boys and girls who are just exiting the academy as freshly-minted genin. They do not find Sasuke’s soulmate there. They look among Itachi’s academy-age peers and his few friends, then among their older brothers and sisters and cousins, genin and chuunin alike. There is even a brief period of time where Mikoto wonders if one of her relatives is hurting their child, as impossible as that seems, and she looks among the children entering the academy as well. Thankfully, all are as content and calm and happy as Uchiha children should be, if a bit stressed from being among so many non-Uchiha for the first time.

It is unfathomable that an Uchiha would hurt one of their own. Their loyalty, first and foremost, has always been to each other, and even more so now that the village hisses accusations under its breath, the sly words of shinobi and civilians alike pushing the clan to close in on itself.

And for the next couple of years, as Sasuke grows and eventually stops crying at his soulmate’s bruises, as Mikoto and Fugaku expand their search to include minor abrasions and cuts that can only come from rings and broken glass and dull blades - the injuries that force Sasuke to learn how not to cry all over again - as Mikoto checks the records of jounin injuries in an act of desperation one late evening and never tells her husband that she _cried_ with relief and frustration when she found _nothing_ to match the cruel cuts that appeared on Sasuke’s cheeks earlier that day - the situation does not change.

The village’s hatred of the Uchiha increases, whispers and rumors springing from thin air to stoke the flame. The Uchiha clan turn inward, protecting their own, defending their children and spouses and loved ones from the village’s ire as best they can.

When Sasuke’s soulmate does not appear after two long years of searching, not among any of the shinobi or academy students, they finally conclude that Sasuke’s soulmate is not an Uchiha.

Which opens up an entirely new set of possibilities, and a host of problems.

While rare, it isn’t unheard of for an Uchiha to find their soulmate outside the clan, and it certainly isn’t discouraged - no one in their right mind would ever try to separate soulmates when soulmates make each other so much happier and stronger and _whole_ \- but the Uchiha in question typically leave the clan compound to be with their soulmate. The Uchiha way of life - the intensity of their emotions and the ways they temper them and hide them, their connection to the clan and how it affects their every thought and action - is a little hard for outsiders to understand. It is much easier for non-Uchiha soulmates to deal with one Uchiha, as opposed to an entire clan.

And there is no question of ignoring a soulmate, for an Uchiha. The other clans may be able to, may live fulfilling lives and even fall in love with someone else entirely, but once an Uchiha has found their soulmate there is no option of leaving them. There’s a reason people say that an Uchiha’s love can drive them mad. There’s a reason Uchiha die in pairs.

Their love runs too deep to survive its sundering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Child abuse mentions: bruises appear on baby Sasuke's arms because his soulmate has been grabbed and squeezed tight enough to bruise; references to more bruises appearing on Sasuke, references to abrasions and cuts from rings and broken glass and dull blades appearing on toddler Sasuke, references to cuts appearing on Sasuke's cheeks.  
> Mikoto and Fugaku do not realize another baby/toddler is being abused - they think Sasuke's soulmate is older.
> 
> Please let me know if I need to be more or less specific with the above info.
> 
> Also, don't even fight me on Shinobi Street. It's adorable and you know it.
> 
> Fic title and chapter title from [Rescue by Lauren Daigle - Joey Stamper Cover](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG4MF7GwZkU).
> 
> Comments are my lifeblood!
> 
> Come scream with me on tumblr. I'm [Sendryl](https://sendryl.tumblr.com/) there too.


	2. In the Middle of the Darkest Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Any Uchiha would rather die than refuse their child their soulmate.
> 
> Mikoto and Fugaku are no different, but with the village against them, the problems are obvious.
> 
> No one will want an Uchiha for a soulmate, not now.
> 
> And Sasuke is already growing to be a fine Uchiha.
> 
> Unfortunately, in Konoha, a fine Uchiha is a terrible thing to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my current plan is to post each chapter once I've got the next one almost ready.
> 
> This chapter was initially 3.6k, but then it expanded even further so now I'm splitting it into two.
> 
> This fic is gonna be at least six chapters now, probably more like ten chapters, I don't know why I thought I could keep it at four.
> 
> Wishful thinking.
> 
> Anyway, this chapter and the next one are fairly political and dark, and are mainly Mikoto & Fugaku & Itachi.
> 
> Child abuse mentions in the end notes.
> 
> Enjoy!

Any Uchiha would rather die than refuse their child their soulmate.

Mikoto and Fugaku are no different.

Typically, with the knowledge that Sasuke’s soulmate is not an Uchiha, they would begin to prepare him for life outside the compound and would resume their search in the rest of the village.

But with the village against them, the animosity and venomous stares Mikoto feels every time she leaves the compound, the problems are obvious.

No one will want an Uchiha for a soulmate, not now, not when every word about them is either a curse or a reprimand or worst of all a call for justice against the village’s own police force and one of its founding clans.

Sasuke is the second son of the Uchiha clan head, second in line to inherit, and will undoubtedly be a strong shinobi in his own right. He isn’t the genius Itachi is, but even at three years old Sasuke has a desire to do what is _right_ and an inner fire that blazes with a need to protect those who are _his._

He follows Itachi like a determined duckling, imitating his taijutsu as best he can, begging for whatever chakra exercises and weapons skills Itachi is willing to teach him. And Itachi is always willing to teach him, with a gentle smile and a kind hand and patience that goes beyond his years. In spite of Mikoto’s best efforts, Itachi has always been the first to see when Sasuke’s soulmate has been injured, and he is always the first to wrap him up in a tight hug, ignoring all sense of decorum in the face of the pain his little brother tries so hard to hide.

Sasuke is already growing to be a fine Uchiha, and unfortunately, in Konoha, a fine Uchiha is a terrible thing to be.

Mikoto and Fugaku sit Itachi down one evening, long after Sasuke has been put to bed.

Sasuke had cried out during dinner, his hand coming up to his cheek as a long, thin gash appeared just below his eye. Blood dripped out from between his fingers and ran down his chin, mixing with the tears he tried to hold in.

The wound closed quickly, as always, and Sasuke allowed Itachi and Mikoto to fuss over him and clean him up, but he was silent for the rest of dinner. Itachi had soothed him with words and gentle hands, reminding him that they were looking for his soulmate, that it wouldn't be long now, that they would find his Uchiha as soon as they could, and Mikoto and Fugaku had shared a look over the boys' heads.

They had to tell Itachi, at least.

Now it is the three of them, seated around the kotatsu, and Mikoto isn’t sure where to start.

Fugaku takes her hand, and Itachi’s eyes widen at the open display of comfort, so foreign even inside their home. The uncharacteristic kindness gives Mikoto strength, and she straightens her spine and decides to start with what they all know.

“We have searched through all our kin for two years now, and have not found Sasuke’s soulmate.” Mikoto does not permit her voice to waver, but she can feel her failure pulling at her emotional control, tugging her toward despair. “We have even looked among our kin who have left the compound for border missions and those who were born outside the clan. None of the Uchiha are Sasuke’s soulmate.”

Her son stops breathing.

Itachi is frozen to the spot for a few moments, but even after he forces himself to take a shuddering breath, even after he pulls a calm frown over his face to mask his reaction, she can see the uncontrolled fear in his eyes as he speaks as softly as ever and unnecessarily concludes, “Sasuke’s soulmate is from outside the clan.”

_Itachi knows something we don’t._

The thought is sudden and swift and frightening, adding even more worry to her burdened shoulders. Itachi looks so strange, unbridled panic in his eyes and controlled grace in every line of his body. A stranger sits in her son’s body, a young man she doesn’t know, and Mikoto watches him duck his head in thought, finally hiding his panic and fear.

_Something has happened to my Itachi._

And Mikoto knows then, with a dreadful certainty, that she will never understand what has happened unless Itachi decides to tell her.

They are all silent then, Fugaku tightening his hold on Mikoto’s hand, his fingers trembling faintly. Her husband has no idea, no way to know how far Itachi is from them in this moment. And Mikoto can only wait as she watches Itachi’s mind race, his face flickering through afterimages of emotions that she cannot catch. It takes a few minutes, but when Itachi raises his head his face is set in stone.

“We must reach out, then.” Itachi says, and there is steel beneath the softness of his voice.

Fugaku’s eyes narrow, but before he can interrupt, Itachi pins him in place with a hard look and continues.

“The coup,” he says, and all the air seems to rush from the room.

“What?” Mikoto asks, her breath caught in her throat. The fact that Itachi somehow knows about the coup explains everything and raises a multitude of questions.

Itachi’s stare does not waver, still matching Fugaku’s glare with his own.

“The coup must not be allowed to occur.” All his softness is absent, her son’s usual kindness and peace is gone from his voice, a sword unsheathed as it strikes true. Mikoto almost can’t believe her ears.

“How do you know about that?” Fugaku asks harshly, the first words he’s spoken since they tucked Sasuke in.

Itachi doesn’t scoff, they raised him better than to be so rude to them, but Mikoto can see by the miniscule frown tugging at the side of his mouth that he wants to. Shisui’s influence, a distant part of her mind notes. The rest of her mind is occupied with a bone-deep terror. How did Itachi discover the coup? Who else knows? What was he planning to do with his knowledge?

“It wasn’t hard,” Itachi finally says, and Mikoto feels a little nauseated at the implications. “The village is setting itself against the Uchiha, so the Uchiha set themselves against the village in turn. A coup is the most straightforward way to protect the clan, and the new policies forcing non-Uchiha out of the police force is one piece of proof. To find another you only have to look at the general stances of the Uchiha council members towards the village, and the fact that none of the clan’s requests or suggestions have been approved by the Hokage or his council for the last five months. There are many more pieces of evidence. I could go on.”

“No, that won’t be necessary,” Mikoto answers, her voice fainter than she would like. She clears her throat with difficulty. “Who else kno-”

“I cannot say,” Itachi interrupts her, his eyes wide and almost painfully frightened.

It is a shock for him to interrupt her at all, but it is even more shocking to see such an expression on her eldest’s face. Itachi rarely even looks unsure or unsettled, and for him to show his emotions - his _fear_ \- so openly...

Her son’s blatant and desperate message is heard, loud and clear, and as she narrows her eyes in thought she sees the relief in his own.

He can’t tell her who knows, but he can lead her to the answer.

Someone important knows about the coup, has seen through all their careful subterfuge and planning, and it is someone Itachi fears, which is telling. Even as an eight-year-old genin, Itachi is already powerful enough that most people fear _him._

The amount of people Itachi would honestly fear is short enough that Mikoto can count them on her fingers. Every person she silently names is a council member or clan head, and every one of them is dangerously powerful.

She shares a brief glance with Fugaku, his fingers twitching against hers, and the worry and rage in his eyes tells her that he sees it too. They’ve been trapped. Manipulated. The entire clan has been.

“The rumors, the dissent, the village turning against us,” Mikoto breathes, finally seeing the trap they’ve been maneuvered into, the one they’ve been helping to create without realizing it, and Itachi closes his eyes in bone-deep relief as he slumps.

“I cannot say,” he repeats, and when he opens his eyes Mikoto can see his anguish as clear as day.

Mikoto thinks fast, her agile mind racing through possibilities and connections, loyalties and ties between shinobi painting a picture in shades of blood.

The fact that he did not correct her, paired with the emotions he’s projecting plain as day and his inability to answer all adds up to a confirmation. Their clan is being manipulated into starting the coup, and the only reason a council member or clan head would do such a thing would be to destroy the Uchiha altogether. All they would have to do would be to bring their suspicions before the Hokage. If any one of the clan heads or council members brought up the possibility of a coup, the Hokage would investigate. He would find out about their plot, and may even already know.

And if the Hokage was prepared for them, the coup would fail and the Uchiha would fall.

Itachi has clearly already been approached, has already been evaluated and seen as reasonable. He must have already begun working against the coup, either with the Hokage or with this powerful enemy or both.

If Itachi has only approached them now, after learning that Sasuke’s soulmate must be outside the clan, then…

It hits Mikoto then, swift and painful as a lightning bolt, exactly why Itachi has chosen to tell them about his opposition to the coup.

The coup is a risk to Sasuke.

She brings a trembling hand up to her mouth, unwilling to imagine exactly what would’ve happened to Sasuke if they had gone through with their plans. No one outside the clan would want Sasuke as their soulmate if the Uchiha tried to take over Konoha, whether they were successful or not.

How could she not have seen it?

How could she have been so blind?

She looks at Itachi again and she can see her horror reflected in his eyes.

She shakes herself out of it after a moment, and a glance at Fugaku tells her he doesn’t yet understand. Fugaku may be the strength of the clan, but Mikoto has always been the mind. She’ll tell him later, in private, when she can cry without shaming herself before her brilliant, loving, _loyal_ son.

For now, she needs to determine why Itachi’s plans have changed.

Itachi has clearly believed for some time that the coup is a danger to Sasuke’s future happiness and health and mental stability - and to an Uchiha, the line between those concepts is thin indeed - and she knows that Itachi will do _anything_ for his little brother’s well-being. He must have already decided on a path to keep Sasuke safe, but the information that Sasuke’s soulmate lies outside their clan has changed his options.

His path, his plan, whatever way out he had seen must have disappeared like smoke in his hands. Sasuke is now at risk in a way Itachi cannot prevent. No wonder he’s afraid.

“What were you planning to do?” Mikoto asks, desperate to know how he would’ve saved his brother, had she and Fugaku continued to be blinded to his danger. “How would you have stopped the coup?”

Her eldest is a genius, everyone knows it to be true, but even he wouldn’t be able to stop the entire clan on his own.

Fugaku is silent beside her, his eyes narrowed and brow furrowed as he tries to follow her train of thought.

“I cannot say,” Itachi repeats yet again. As he speaks, he calmly draws a kunai and cuts a line across his palm, an unspoken message to his soulmate.

A second line appears mere moments later, an inch below the first, and fades after a handful of heartbeats. Shisui will make his way to Itachi’s side soon. No soulmate would ignore such a call.

_Shisui. Kotoamatsukami._

Mikoto’s breath leaves her in a rush as Itachi’s plan becomes clear. She can hear Fugaku’s angry gasp as he figures it out as well. With Kotoamatsukami, stopping the coup before it could begin would have been child’s play.

The coup was always destined to fail then, either through an outsider’s manipulations or through Itachi and Shisui’s resistance. Mikoto will have to explain to Fugaku why they must dissolve the coup on their own terms, but since the coup has failed before it has even begun, how are they to mend the clan’s relationship with the village?

That was the entire point of the coup, after all, to change Konoha’s opinion of the Uchiha through force and a transition of power. Neither she nor Fugaku had wanted a bloody revolution, neither of them wanted to harm Konoha’s civilians and shinobi, but no one had seen another way. None of them had understood why the village was turning against them, and she can see now that they’d been left with no other options.

This shadow figure has been controlling the village and trying to destroy the Uchiha by destroying their reputation and driving them to revolt. They’ve nearly succeeded already. What are the Uchiha to do now?

“What can we do?” She asks, her voice wavering in her desperation, and Fugaku turns his head to fix her with an incredulous stare. He looks at her as if he can’t even fathom why she would ask such a thing.

Mikoto’s always known that Itachi got his intelligence from her, but Fugaku’s usually not this slow to catch on. Her swift and seemingly-easy acceptance of Itachi’s words, the way she’s readily turned her back on all their plans… Her behavior has shaken him. She’ll have to be blunt.

  
“With the current attitude of the village, and with the coup a failure,” she says, ignoring Fugaku’s sputtering twitch at her clear belief that the coup will _fail,_ “Sasuke’s soulmate will reject him.” Her voice breaks, and it is only through a massive force of will that Mikoto stops herself from bursting into tears at the thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Child abuse mentions: a long thin cut appears on three-year-old Sasuke's cheek, beneath his eye, indicating off-screen child abuse. :(
> 
> So this is pretty dark so far. You all holding up okay out there?
> 
> I promise, there'll be just one more dark chapter and then we'll get into some lighter and more hopeful stuff. Sort of. For the most part.
> 
> Chapter three will be more of this, but there will be some darkish fluff at the end of it! Daruff? Flark? Is there a word for that?
> 
> Please politely let me know if you spot any typos or have any questions!
> 
> To answer a question you might have - soulmates are not always from within a person's clan, but it a common occurrence for every clan, with some clans finding more soulmates outside than others. The Uchiha nearly always find their soulmates within the clan at this point, because of their deep connection to their clan. This universe chooses soulmates to balance each other out, but also because they have an underlying similarity to them.
> 
> The Uchiha love so deeply, the universe wouldn't be cruel and pair them with someone who didn't have the same depth of love and devotion. So that's a long explanation to say that Sasuke's family isn't being stupid by assuming that his soulmate is an Uchiha for two years. It makes a lot of sense.
> 
> (They haven't met Naruto yet, after all.)
> 
> Fic title and chapter title from Rescue by Lauren Daigle - Joey Stamper Cover.
> 
> Come scream with me on tumblr. I'm [Sendryl](https://sendryl.tumblr.com/) there too.


	3. There is No Distance That Cannot be Covered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shisui outlines his master plan.
> 
> Itachi does NOT knock his head against the wall even though he'd very much like to.
> 
> Mikoto tries not to be amused.
> 
> Fugaku attempts the opposite.
> 
> A certain someone we all love very much figures out what he needs to do.
> 
> And another certain someone we all love very much gets some much-needed comfort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY first off I NEED you guys to know how happy your comments make me.
> 
> I just. I read them and I smile, and I giggle, and sometimes I have to do one of those wiggly happy dances because someone says something really sweet and I just...
> 
> I was SO ANXIOUS posting that chapter. You have no idea. I was jittery and worried about what you'd all think, and I had to walk away from my computer for a bit and then... THE HITS?!?! THE COMMENTS?!?! THE KUDOS?!?! *insert mind-blowing gif*
> 
> I love you guys so much. I am SO happy that you guys are loving this fic, and you make me SO excited to write it.
> 
> You all make me so happy, and I love each and every one of you, you are wonderful, amazing people who deserve all the best things in life, and I am sending you a big soulmate hug.  
> How? Read and find out!
> 
> Here's that darkish fluff I promised you. :D

Nothing will change a parent’s priorities like a threat to their child.

Mikoto hadn’t seen the threat coming, had no idea it even existed until Itachi had pointed it out, and it’s clear that Fugaku hadn’t seen it either.

Her words ring out, loud and clear, her breaking voice striking the tension in the room like a pick on koto strings.

“Sasuke’s soulmate will reject him.”

It is the truth, plainly spoken with no way to twist its meaning, and she can see the effect it has on both her husband and her eldest son.

Fugaku pales until he’s as white as a sheet. Just when Mikoto thinks she’ll have to remind him to breathe, he moves, slamming his fist into the table in a rare fit of temper, sending spiderweb cracks spiraling out across the surface. He takes a series of quick breaths before he calms himself and nods, trusting that she will explain more to him further, when it is just the two of them. He understands enough now to follow her lead.

At the same time, Itachi stills at her words, barely breathing at all, his hands clenched into fists on the table. He already knew, he was the first to figure it out, but hearing his mother calmly predict his brother’s end… Blood slowly runs along the seams of the fingers on his injured hand, puddling around his knuckles.

The outcomes and possibilities that lie before them are clear to Mikoto now. 

If the Uchiha cannot change the village’s attitude toward them, Sasuke’s soulmate will reject him. The thought of such a thing happening to Sasuke is brutal and so painful Mikoto feels it like a kunai to the gut. And if that isn’t enough, the thought of what that would do to Itachi, to see his little brother whom he adores beyond words driven to madness or… Mikoto would lose both her sons in one fell swoop.

She would not survive such a blow, and losing her would destroy Fugaku in turn.

The coup and the situation in the village that has necessitated it are threats now, threats to Sasuke and through him to their entire family, and Mikoto can feel her priorities shifting, her loyalty to her family superseding all others. The last few minutes have irreparably altered all her plans for the future.

She knows what future she wants to walk toward. She can see her family, whole and happy with Sasuke’s soulmate beside him, their clan strong and united with the village once more. But she cannot see the path that will take them there.

“Itachi, what must we do?” She asks again, now that it is clear that they must act. Whoever has been moving against them has moved unchecked for far too long. There is much damage to be undone.

Itachi sighs, finally loosening his hands to lay them flat on the table.

“Shisui has some ideas,” he says, speaking more to the table than to either of them, and he clenches his bloody hand three times in a clear signal to his soulmate.

Shisui enters the room with a shunshin, leaves and wind swirling his clothes around him, and he sits beside Itachi with a smile.

“You’re on our side, good,” he begins, and Itachi is already stiffening again, clearly worried at the admission that they haven’t been on the same side all along.

Mikoto simply smiles and tightens her grip on Fugaku’s hand again.

She’s clearly been too focused on Sasuke and his soulmate, if Itachi has managed to pull this far away from her. She thought he was simply growing up, that he was withdrawing into himself for a time and would rejoin them again soon.

Now that she’s aware that isn’t the case, she’ll have to pay more attention to him from here on out and rebuild her ties to him. They had been so close when he was younger.

She can see the danger now, and she’ll fight anyone she needs to keep her family close. She’s not going to lose any one of them.

“There is only one side in this room, Shisui,” she says, agreeing with him and correcting him in one sentence, “we are all Uchiha here.”

“And that’s exactly the problem,” he shoots back.

Fugaku stiffens in offense but Mikoto nods gracefully, conceding the point. She gathers her pride and expels it with a breath. It’s easy when she thinks of what her pride could cost her now.

“You have some ideas about how we can fix that?” She asks. Fugaku is drawn taut as ninja wire beside her, his grip so tight that she’s starting to lose feeling in her fingers. He’s only very rarely had to sacrifice his own pride, and the few times Mikoto remembers him humbling himself were all well before he became clan head.

He’ll have to remember how to be humble, if they want to survive this with their family intact.

“Yes,” Shisui begins, his eyes bright and eager. “Now, imagine you’re an aloof, vicious cat.”

“Shisui,” Itachi interrupts, pleading with voice and eyes for his soulmate to speak sensibly for even a moment. “This is serious.”

“So am I,” Shisui says firmly.

Mikoto can’t see where he’s going with his analogy, but she decides to throw common sense out the window and trust him anyway. When she doesn’t protest and when Fugaku proves himself to be shocked speechless, Shisui continues.

“Do people want to pet aloof, vicious cats? Do they want to take them home? Do people help if they see vicious cats in trouble?” His serious tone doesn’t match his slightly foolish words, but Mikoto is starting to see his point.

“No,” she answers, quiet and thoughtful, “They don’t.”

Shisui nods solemnly. “We’re the cats. The Uchiha are seen as cold and aloof and downright vicious, and no one wants to help us.” He pauses for effect, making sure to meet each of their eyes. Itachi is glaring at him, but Shisui holds him off with a slightly-desperate glare of his own. He looks back to Mikoto and goes for the big finish. “We need to make ourselves pettable cats.”

The table is silent, and in spite of herself, in spite of the deadly seriousness of the threats they are facing, Mikoto can feel the corner of her mouth twitching.

Shisui catches her hidden smile and crows triumphantly. “That’s what I mean! We need to smile! We need to laugh! We need to go out into the village and show them that we are people, not monsters. We need to show them that we _care_. That we’re pettable,” he concludes, and this time Itachi really does scoff. Quietly. Into his collar. He can’t quite hide his smile, though.

“See?” Shisui says, turning a fond smile on his soulmate. “Just like that. We’re people too, and we need to remind Konoha of that fact.”

Fugaku gathers his wits first, and Shisui winces as his clan head stares him down.

“Told you it wouldn’t be this simple,” he mutters to Itachi, almost too quiet for Mikoto to hear, and then winces again when Fugaku opens his mouth to yell at him.

“If we’re going to actually accomplish anything, we need actionable ideas, Shisui,” Fugaku says, calm and measured and not yelling at all, and Shisui’s mouth drops open. “We won’t be able to change the clan if our only instruction to them is ‘be pettable’.” Fugaku scowls as he utters those last two words, but then he consciously attempts to smile instead.

It’s more of a grimace, Mikoto has to admit, and she’s fairly certain that Shisui is _utterly_ terrified by Fugaku’s attempt at a smile, but he’s trying. Fugaku is actually trying to smile.

He’s _listening._

When Shisui turns to Itachi, eyes wide and mouth agape, Itachi gives him a chiding look.

“I told you I wouldn’t call you unless they were with us,” he murmurs, just as quiet as Shisui had been.

Shisui is still shocked, and Itachi must have told him that they would 

Mikoto smiles at them both, and nothing’s been resolved, nothing’s been mended or fixed or changed, but they’ve started down a path that will hopefully save them all. That’s reason enough to smile.

They’re all on the same page now.

They all understand the danger they’re in.

It’s time to act.

***

Sasuke can hear Shisui-san laying out more plans, giving Otousan ‘actionable ideas’, whatever those are. He’ll have to ask Okaasan later.

He silently pads back to his room, knowing that his parents are too absorbed in their discussion to notice him. Niisan might have sensed him, but Sasuke’s been getting better at hide and seek, and Niisan had seemed very distracted. They’d all seemed distracted.

Sasuke had woken suddenly to a loud noise, and he rose quickly and silently to find his parents and brother, just as they’d told him to do if he thought someone might be in danger.

Just as he was about to exit the hall, he heard Okaasan in the next room, asking Niisan what to do. Then Shisui-san had come in and started talking about taking sides, and in the end he decided to listen instead of revealing himself. He hadn’t understood everything that was said - how could being Uchiha be a problem? That didn’t make sense at all. But he had heard Shisui-san’s instructions, and he liked cats enough to understand them.

He slides the door shut behind him, his movements silent as a whisper, and murmurs to himself, “Be pettable.”

Sasuke’s fairly certain that, when Shisui-san was talking about a vicious and mean cat, he’d meant the mangy tomcat that prowls along the top of the compound wall. That tomcat is pure evil, with its cruel fangs and its swiping claws. No one wants to pet that cat.

A pettable cat.

A pettable cat would have to be soft and kind and cuddly, it can’t hurt people without reason or be rude for no reason.

Sasuke sits on his futon and purses his lips in thought. He can do that.

He raises a hand to his hair and strokes it, feeling its softness because it won’t hurt to keep his hair pettable as well.

He’ll be the most pettable cat ever!

And once he’s found his soulmate he’ll show them just how soft and pettable he is!

…But how will his soulmate feel while they wait for him to find them? Okaasan and Otousan have been searching for years now, they’ve told him so, every time his soulmate gets hurt. But they haven’t found them yet, and his soulmate keeps getting hurt, and it isn’t getting better, the pain is getting worse every time, and his soulmate _keeps getting hurt._

There’s a hitch in Sasuke’s breath and a tightness in his throat, and he forces both down.

He isn’t sure what to do, and he wishes Niisan was here instead of talking with the others. He wants Niisan to hold him tight and tell him everything will be okay.

...What if his soulmate doesn’t have anyone to hold them and tell them it’ll be alright? What if they think this is how it’ll be forever, like Sasuke did before Niisan told him the truth?

Sasuke can feel tears welling up, and he’s almost overwhelmed by the thought, he’s tired and sad and his soulmate is always getting hurt and doesn’t seem to have anyone like Niisan to protect them and-

Sasuke will have to protect them.

The thought hits him like a bolt from the blue, and he suddenly knows exactly what he needs to do.

If his soulmate doesn’t have a Niisan, doesn’t have anyone to keep them safe and tell them the truth, he’ll have to do it himself.

Sasuke wraps his arms around himself, grips his upper arms, and hugs himself as hard as he can.

“Don’t worry,” he whispers, hoping that somehow his soulmate will hear him. “Everything is going to be alright.”

***

Halfway across Konoha, curled up on his tiny cot in his crowded orphanage, his threadbare blanket given to another boy - a _better_ boy, he knows that, the matron says it so often - three-year-old Naruto’s silent tears stop as he feels his arms and chest tighten without warning.

There’s a moment of fear, an anticipation of hurt, but the pain never comes. Instead the pressure makes him feel secure, safe and cradled and anchored. He feels like he can breathe deeply for once.

He can almost imagine arms around him, holding him tight, safe and warm and loving, soothing his hunger and loneliness and fear.

He’s always wondered what it felt like, seeing parents holding their children lovingly, soothing away scraped knees and bruised feelings, watching friends wrap their arms around each other and squeezing until the air if filled with laughter. He can almost imagine that it might feel something like this. It must feel like this, like safety and security and _home._

_This must be what a hug feels like._

The feeling lingers for only a few moments, but Naruto falls asleep quickly that night, and for many nights after, remembering and cherishing the first hug he’s ever received.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like your hug? :D
> 
> Bittersweet, I know, but a hug is a hug, and at least Naruto has one now!!!
> 
> Next chapter will be quite a bit fluffier, thankfully. I've got all the major scenes blocked out and an angsty bit planned and it'll be great. You'll love it.
> 
> Expect more Shisui and Itachi in the future. POV is going to jump a little bit for the next two (or few, depending on how well I can rein myself in) chapters, gradually shifting to be more Sasuke POV as he grows up.
> 
> At least, that's the current plan. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Fic title and chapter title from Rescue by Lauren Daigle - Joey Stamper Cover.
> 
> Comments are my lifeblood!
> 
> Come scream with me on tumblr. I'm Sendryl there too.


	4. I Will Send Out an Army to Find You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> nartsque took one look at my outline and accurately titled this section "Uchiha: Become Human".
> 
> XD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nartsque, you are my Cerebro, the sunshine to my sauce, and I hope you enjoy gremlin Shisui trying to groom a bunch of feral kitties.
> 
> Happy Valentine's Day, have some feels.
> 
> Child abuse mentions in the end notes.

The next few days are a whirlwind of plans, discussions, assessments, and arguments between the four of them.

After the second day of their impromptu conference, Mikoto joins Shisui and Itachi’s side entirely, and Fugaku knows he’s lost. He concedes defeat as gracefully as he can, letting Shisui and Itachi explain their plans while Mikoto asks intelligent questions and contributes excellent ideas and Fugaku simply _listens._

In the end, once all their plots are finalized, he calls the entire clan together for an emergency meeting. On a cold winter morning a few days later, he stands tall before them and puts the plan into motion.

All the Uchiha stare up at him, at their stern and stoic clan head standing high above them on a Doton platform he raised at the front of the main courtyard, and while he’s led them through many situations and hard times and difficult missions… This is something entirely new. He’s already failed them. And now, instead of leading them through the storm they’ve realized is raging around them, he’s going to have to cede control and be led along with them.

By an eleven-year-old chuunin, no less.

It’s galling. He can hardly swallow around the humiliation and shame rising in his throat.

“I have failed you,” he begins, his voice hoarse and ragged, and already the assembled clan is thrown into confusion. “I am your clan head, and as such it is my responsibility to lead you all safely. I have failed. have led you into a dangerous situation from which I could not see an escape. Thankfully, others among us have found a path to salvation.” Fugaku pauses, reading the utter confusion and the first hints of fear in the crowd. “I will explain myself as simply and as clearly as I can.”

Fugaku doesn’t hold back. His sentences are clipped short, his words thrown like kunai, each one tearing his own pride to shreds.

“You have seen how the village treats us. We are shunned and scorned. Our missions are few and below our level. The civilians and shinobi alike have come to hate us. We have been trying to change this, but in the end we have failed. We have started to retreat into our clan, into the compound we were encouraged to form.

“Some time ago, we decided to attempt to take Konoha in a coup d’etat. This was _my_ plan, supported by our elders and older jounin,” he pauses, seeing shock on the faces of those who supported the coup and don’t yet understand why he would reveal their plans. There’s a painful expression of denial and disappointment on the faces of those who didn’t know. Fugaku has to continue, he has to take responsibility for his actions. “This was my plan, and it has already failed.”

He can see confusion and lack of understanding on many faces, and he tries again. He will have to be even more blunt.

“Our position in Konoha is fragile. We are in dire straits indeed.”

Still, there is no light of understanding dawning on his kin. He cannot risk explaining Mikoto’s suspicions and Itachi’s warnings outright, lest word make its way back to whoever is trying to destroy them, but he needs his clan to understand just how perilous their situation is. They are in danger of destruction, and he must make that as clear as he can.

“The coup has already failed,” he says again, “and we cannot take Konoha by force.” He looks out over the crowd, meets as many eyes as he can, and says, “We cannot continue as we are, or else the Uchiha will fall.”

Fugaku sees the exact moment they understand, watches horror and fear and sorrow fill face after face, and he draws in a breath to reassure them, but the clan’s respectful silence has evaporated entirely in the face of impending annihilation.

Parents are whispering to each other or kneeling to try to soothe their children and shield them against exactly what they now understand they are facing. The elders are murmuring in disbelief, shaking their heads and staring at nothing and slowly realizing that Fugaku’s words are true. The children are frightened, the young men and women are going pale, and eventually, as Fugaku clasps his shaking hands behind his back and waits out the murmuring crowd, they all turn back to face him.

He’s never shown them weakness. Fugaku has always been a flawless pillar of strength, the head of the Uchiha clan, their leader and guide. For him to speak so bluntly and clearly admit his own failure…

A fearful silence falls over them all, every face staring at their clan head, willing him to speak and explain how he will make everything right again.

“We have a plan,” Fugaku says, but his strange tone keeps the crowd on edge. “But I will be honest with you all. We don’t know that it will work, and we don’t know that we can turn Konoha’s hatred away after so long.” He looks out over his clan then, and steely determination fills his expression. “At this point, all we can do is try.”

His clan stares at him, silent but for a few children’s quiet tears, and he can read the hope and terror in their eyes.

“My leadership has almost destroyed us already. Therefore I am calling on one of our younger members to guide us through this time, one of our well-respected chuunin. He is well-liked outside the compound, and he and my eldest have a plan to help us survive this crisis.”

Fugaku motions, and Shisui takes his cue and leaps up beside him.

“I fully support Shisui-san’s plan. Listen to his instructions as you would my own.” Fugaku says, as confidently as he commands his shinobi in battle, and they straighten in response, spines filling with steel, eyes glinting in determination.

There is something to be done, and regardless of how Fugaku says he has failed them, they trust him. They trust him even more now, for having realized his failings and admitted them and taken steps to save them all. They will listen.

Fugaku leaps down to stand beside Mikoto, and he hates that he has to back down, _hates_ that he cannot lead the clan to a peaceful resolution, but Shisui and Itachi were right. How could he lead the clan out of disaster when he cannot even _pretend_ to understand the peaceful path Shisui and Itachi had described?

They had a plan already, steps and outlines and counter-measures to resistance all in place. Mikoto had nodded along with each point in the plan, asked her questions, guided and prompted and expanded on their thinking, and she seemed to believe that their plan would work. Meanwhile, Fugaku can hardly believe what they’re going to try to do. Their plan goes against nearly everything he was ever taught about being an Uchiha. He doesn’t understand them, doesn’t see how a peaceful resolution is possible.

But…

He reaches out, his fingers barely brushing against Mikoto’s.

She reaches back, her strong fingers intertwining with his own, in full view of their clan, a piece of affection he would never have shown in public before today.

He trusts Mikoto.

He trusts his soulmate.

And if she says she believes Shisui and Itachi, if she can see peace in their future, he will follow her, step into her footprints as she walks ahead of him, and believe.

***

Shisui looks out over the assembled Uchiha, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, cousins and elders and orphans and soulmates all standing neatly in rows in the main courtyard of the compound.

The entire Uchiha clan stands before him. Anyone else might feel a sense of pride or power, standing up above them on a raised platform of earth, knowing that the entire clan is going to be listening to his instructions and acting on his guidelines, but Shisui only feels determined. He can still taste the fear in the air as Fugaku’s speech lingers over the crowd. His hands want to shake from nerves. He won’t let them. This is far too important to ruin with a bout of anxiety.

Konoha hates them right now, and he and Itachi are the only ones who seem to see a peaceful way to change that. He’d asked Itachi to help him present the plan to the rest of the clan, but his soulmate had shaken his head with a smile and reminded him that it was his plan in the first place.

“You know it best, Shisui,” Itachi had said, passing him just before Fugaku raised the platform high. “I can’t explain it half as well as you can.”

Shisui looks down at the front row, instantly finding Itachi standing with his family. Itachi doesn’t move, doesn’t smile, but the steadiness and absolute _faith_ in his eyes gives Shisui the courage to speak.

He has to get this right.

“We need to change the way the village views us,” he says, speaking calmly and clearly, ignoring both the narrowed eyes of the elders and the eager expressions of his friends. “To achieve that, we will have to practice a very difficult skill for an Uchiha, one that does not come naturally to us at all.”

The clan is waiting, every eye fixed on him, waiting for a jutsu or strategy or plot.

Shisui grins, bright and wide, and says, “As I explained to Fugaku, we have to become pettable cats. And our first step is to learn to smile.”

There’s a moment of perfect silence before the clan erupts into disbelieving mutters.

_What? Pettable cats? What does that mean? Is this a joke? Smile? That’s it? What a fool. That’s the plan? He just wants us to be like him. This is foolish, what is Fugaku thinking? This can’t be the best way to save the clan. Gods help us, we’re being led by a foolish child._

Shisui smiles through the muttering, waits for the crowd to turn back to him. He knows what he said, he had planned to say it that way. They haven’t knocked down the platform yet, so he just has to wait for them to focus again. Once he has their attention, he steps to the front of the platform and sits, dangling his legs over the edge. He smiles and smiles and smiles, not a hint of his anxiety shown on his face.

Once it’s quiet again, he continues.

“Konoha sees us as standoffish and cruel,” he says, dropping the smile from his face. He _glares_ at them now, and the crowd stills at the change in atmosphere.

“They see us as rude and unfeeling. They think we force soulmates to stay together,” he bites out. “They think we don’t feel love or care for each other, that we would sacrifice any of them to get something for ourselves.” His eyes seem to burn, even with his Sharingan dormant.

The assembly is silent now, staring at Shisui in despair, because if the village thinks that… How can they ever convince them otherwise?

“We know that we aren’t like that,” he says, “we care so deeply we hide it to protect ourselves. We can read between the lines with each other, see the hidden smiles and careful affection. We understand each other. We can see the love we hold for each other. But Konoha, our fellow shinobi and civilians, _they can’t see that,_ because we don’t show them.” He stresses the words, his face serious and determined. He looks like everything he was just describing, cruel and standoffish and distant.

But then, before their eyes, Shisui changes.

His brow smoothes out, his eyes widen, his mouth pulls up from its frown and relaxes.

He softens.

He looks approachable and caring and open.

He looks like a friend.

“We have to show them now,” he says, and even his voice is different, soft-spoken and gentle, kindness resonating in every syllable.

“It won’t be easy. This will be a very difficult mission, and the entire clan needs to take part. We have to change our behavior in order to change how we are perceived.”

Shisui sighs then, catching as many eyes as he can before he speaks again.

“They won’t react at first. They will still treat us poorly, still hate us, but we can’t give up. We have to change if we want to survive. Do you understand?” His face is sympathetic, his eyes sad, and he watches his kin closely.

Some of them are nodding, mothers and fathers with hope, children with the determination of the young, young men and women with fear. The elders still look skeptical, but they knew that would happen. They’ve planned for that.

“Alright. I’m going to explain the main points of our plan, what connections and changes we’re hoping to create, and then we’ll break into groups and practice smiling.”

He can see their confusion, and he laughs kindly as he says, “I wasn’t joking about that first step. Smiling in the village doesn’t come naturally for most of us. Practicing here first will help.”

He takes a deep breath, lets himself pause for a moment.

The clan isn’t fighting him. They aren’t bringing down the platform and demanding Fugaku attempt the coup anyway. They aren’t mocking him or looking at him with disdain. None of his worst fears are coming to pass, and he finally looks at Itachi again.

He hasn’t been able to look at Itachi since he started talking, for fear of losing his composure. For fear of seeing his disappointment if the clan had chosen not to listen.

Itachi’s eyes are filled with warmth, an easy smile gracing his features, calm and gentle and so proud of his soulmate, and all Shisui can do is smile helplessly back.

It’s tempting to hide it away, to keep the expression between the two of them, but the entire point of their plan is to teach the clan to show themselves to the village. They have to show Konoha who they really are, and Shisui might as well start leading by example now.

“If you have a hard time smiling,” he says, his voice full of all the peace and care Itachi gives him, “pretend you’re smiling at someone or something you truly love.” His cheeks heat, and he can see Itachi’s pleased smile, a blush rising on his face as well. Neither of them hide.

“Think of what makes you happy, what makes you feel warm and content and loved. And then turn those feelings outward.”

“That’s lesson one.”

***

True to his word, Shisui explains the various steps of their plan, and then breaks the clan into groups to practice smiling at each other. He and Itachi circulate through the clan, providing words of encouragement and help.

Most of the young people and children get the hang of smiling much faster than their parents and elders, and Shisui and Itachi end up instructing them to start lesson two early. Shisui explains how to practice gentling their tone of voice when they speak, and tells them to think of what words they find encouraging and comforting. Then he and Itachi divide them up and distribute them among the groups still working on smiling in public, with instructions to encourage them. Shisui wanders into the crowd at some point, and Itachi moves from group to group, a gentle word here, a careful explanation there, before he spots his soulmate again, standing beside a fuming Fugaku.

“I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong,” Fugaku says, each word clipped and frustrated. “I _am_ smiling.”

“No,” Shisui says, watching Fugaku bare his teeth at the wide-eyed jounin across from him. “That isn’t a smile, that’s _terrifying._ ”

Itachi can see his father looking around, seeing gentle smiles and a few wide grins from the children, the faces of his clan transforming before him while he can’t seem to move beyond ‘terrifying’. It isn’t the most auspicious start.

Itachi can see his father’s exasperated fury building, and he knows that his father feels that he should be able to lead the clan in this, knows that his failure is painful and humiliating, and Shisui really isn’t helping.

Shisui’s advice is perfect for people like him, and will help most of the clan. Most of them hide their care from the public but display it in private easily, affection and smiles passing between family and friends with ease.

But Fugaku has so much weight on his shoulders, has had to be perfect and flawless and carved from stone for so long that telling him to think of a vague ‘what you love’ isn’t going to be enough. And Itachi knows this, because if he hadn’t met Shisui as early as he did, hadn’t had his soulmate’s influence for so long already, he’d be just the same.

“Let me handle it, Shisui,” he murmurs, taking his soulmate’s elbow and pulling him away from his father. Shisui smiles at him and backs away, his hand reaching up to grasp Itachi’s for a brief moment before he returns to moving among the groups.

Between Fugaku and Shisui’s speeches and smiling lessons, the clan spends an hour in the courtyard.

As they get ready to leave, Shisui leaps back up to the platform.

“Before, I said that we needed to be pettable cats.” He grins, and some of his kin actually smile back.

“I meant that. No one wants to pet a cat that will scratch them, just as no one in Konoha wants to be kind to someone who will hurt them.” There’s the understanding he was hoping for, the elders nodding along, _finally._ “But we’re not _dogs._ I’m not asking you to roll over, or to become someone else. All we need to do is _show_ the kindness that we’ve kept to ourselves. We’re still ourselves. We’re still _Uchiha._ We just have to show Konoha what that really means.” There are a few grins at his words, and he feels so much hope in his chest that he can’t help but laugh in wonder.

The clan is on board. They’re really going to try to change.

Shisui releases them with a encouraging smile and a reminder to at least _try_ to smile at someone outside the clan compound once that day, and the clan disperses with quite a few smiling faces. That evening, the mood of the adults returning to the compound is dampened as the reality of just how difficult this mission will be sinks in, but some of the children are laughing aloud as they make their way home. They’re talking about a friend they made at the park, a lost child they escorted home, a cat they rescued from a group of bullies. Small victories, but victories all the same.

It’s a good start.

***

Fugaku sits on his couch and steams. His day went poorly. He had tried smiling repeatedly at work, smiling at his officers and the few citizens who came in to make a report, and every person he smiled at had reacted with confusion or outright fear. He made a civilian man cry.

There’s no way he’ll ever be able to do this. He’s always been called stoic, stone-faced, hard-headed, and hard-hearted and one day practicing his smile isn’t going to change that. How does Shisui smile all the time? Fugaku’s cheeks hurt just from his brief attempts throughout the day. He’s exhausted and all he wants is-

“Otousan,” Itachi’s quiet call breaks into his thoughts, and Fugaku looks up to see Itachi offering him a cup of tea.

“Thank you, Itachi,” Fugaku breathes, grateful beyond measure, and as he takes his first sip of tea he feels his muscles starting to loosen.

He closes his eyes and sighs, long and content, and lets the warmth from the tea soothe his throat and hands. It’s brewed perfectly, one of Itachi’s secret blends he makes special for them. He picked up the habit after visiting Tea Country, and the family has benefited from personalized teas ever since.

This blend is lavender and honey, a bit of lemon and the faintest hint of chamomile that Fugaku can just barely taste. He can’t stand chamomile on its own, but Itachi’s tea is never overpowered by it.

Fugaku finds himself comforted by both the familiarity and the thoughtfulness of the gesture, and when he opens his eyes it is to see Itachi standing in front of him. His Itachi, his brilliant genius firstborn, with his gentle smile and his patient care. Fugaku doesn’t know how he of all people could have brought a wonder like Itachi into the world, but he is so proud of his son. Even without this latest miracle, he would be proud of him, and a sense of peace and comfort curls up through his chest as his son smiles at him, gentle as ever.

“Otousan,” he says softly, his voice no more intrusive than the curl of steam from the tea cup. “Focus fully on what you are feeling right now.”

Fugaku raises an eyebrow, but it’s a simple request, and his son doesn’t ask him to do things without reason. He can see no harm in focusing on how good he feels now, the world held at bay by the tea in his hand and the care it represents. Besides, he feels at peace so rarely these days that it would be nice to dwell on the feeling. He closes his eyes and immerses himself in a light meditation, focusing on that fleeting taste of serenity as best he can. A sense of calm and wholeness surrounds him.

“Think about that when you try to smile,” Itachi instructs after a few moments of absolute peace, and while a distant part of Fugaku fears that the words will pull him back to his frustration, he finds that his earlier negativity is entirely absent. Before the realization can distract him, Itachi’s voice steadily guides him forward. “Cast your mind back to taking your first sip of tea in the evening after a long day, that feeling of peace and quiet happiness.”

“Oh,” Fugaku breathes, slowly dropping out of his meditation, opening his eyes to see his son nodding at him.

“Not everyone can smile like Shisui does,” Itachi murmurs, and Fugaku doesn’t try to stop his mouth from twitching at the thought. “But,” he continues, “our smaller smiles carry the same weight.”

Itachi really smiles then, soft and pleased, and Fugaku reflects the expression, a natural smile that he can feel as it grows. After a full day of failures, he finally manages to properly smile back.

“There,” Itachi praises him. “That’s perfect.”

When they try again the next day, Fugaku’s smile is small, just a faint twitch of the corners of his mouth. But it’s much softer now, closer to how it should be.

***

The second day, Shisui asks the clan to divide themselves, sending those who feel comfortable with smiling to discuss tone of voice and active listening with Itachi. Shisui stays behind with those who think they need more smiling practice, including most of the elders, Fugaku and, oddly enough, Sasuke.

Shisui decides to try a different approach this time.

“I’ll be brief,” he says quickly, once again sitting at the edge of the Doton platform. “I’m pretty sure I know what you’re thinking. You think I’m telling all of you to act like me, right?”

His kin nod, some smiling sheepishly, doing their best to let their expressions flow naturally.

Shisui smiles back at them, but he shakes his head.

“I’m not asking you to become me, that would be terrible, we’d never get anything done around here,” he jokes. There are more smiles now, although Fugaku is definitely smirking more than smiling. Shisui firmly says, “I’m asking you to show Konoha what we _want_ them to see.”

The group before him is quiet now, a little confused, and he elaborates.

“This may sound like the opposite of what I said yesterday, but trust me, it’s not. We’re gentle and kind to our families, to our close friends, and to our loved ones, and we want Konoha to see that. It’s like when I’m sad,” he continues, and his kin must be getting used to his speeches, because they simply wait for him to explain himself. “I don’t want Itachi to know I’m sad, because then he’ll be sad too, so instead I think about what makes me happy. I focus on the happy parts of myself, and I show that happiness instead of my sadness.”

Shisui can see a few frowns, so he quickly explains, “That’s not to say that I don’t ever let myself be sad, that’s not healthy, but I try to focus on being happy instead. It’s the same between us and Konoha. We haven’t yet shown them our happy side, so how could they know it even exists?”

The elders still look a little skeptical.

“If you have to, think of it as an infiltration mission. All the best covers are built around truths, right? So build your smiles around the feeling you hold for your loved ones. We’re trying to show Konoha that we care about them. We want them to know that they are also our loved ones.”

Shisui smiles brightly at the crowd, seeing comprehension on previously stubborn faces.

“That’s it. I’m not always happy, but I can almost always pull my happiness on like a mask. That’s what we need to show Konoha. It won’t always be real, but it will help them see us as real people. They’ll start seeing us part of them.”

He doesn’t like lying, not to his own village, but this is vital and necessary.

“And the best part is that it won’t always be a lie. The more we smile and interact with Konoha and let them see us for who we really are, the more real the mask will become. Eventually, with enough time, it won’t be a mask at all.”

It looks like everyone understands, so Shisui hops down from his perch to go help with practice again. The hour flies by, and he’s just about to hop up to the platform to dismiss everyone for the day when Sasuke grabs his sleeve.

“Shisui-niisan,” Sasuke says, his squeaky voice instantly bringing a smile to Shisui’s face.

It’s the first time Sasuke’s called him ‘niisan’ and Shisui beams. He’s been trying to get Sasuke to be less formal with him all year, ever since Sasuke really started talking, but Fugaku and Mikoto have always called him ‘Shisui-san’ and the formal address stuck. Itachi probably said something to Sasuke yesterday, included informality among family and friends in the smiling lessons somehow. Shisui adds this to the massive pile of evidence proving that his soulmate is the _best_ soulmate.

“Can you put me on the platform?” Sasuke continues, entirely ignorant of the way his determined little face is melting Shisui’s heart. “I want to say something.”

Shisui shakes himself back to reality with a confused blink and asks, “What do you want to say, Sasu-kun?”

Sasuke smiles a little at the shortened name, but quickly forces his face to be serious again.

“I want to ask the clan to help me,” Sasuke says, which isn’t very clear, and Sasuke is young enough that he doesn’t really need help with smiling, but Shisui doesn’t think it’ll hurt anything to have Sasuke talk to the clan. It might even help, if the clan sees Fugaku’s son making an effort and asking for assistance. If the clan head’s son can admit he needs help, then anyone can.

On top of all that, Sasuke is adorable, and ending the lesson on an adorable note can only help with the whole smiling thing.

Shisui scoops Sasuke up and leaps to the top of the platform, the sudden movement startling Sasuke into giggles. He sets him down gently and keeps a hand on his shoulder as they walk up to the edge of the platform, just in case. He knows any of them could easily catch Sasuke if he were to fall, but it would be frightening. The fact that Shisui can see Mikoto’s eyes narrowing at him only makes him grip tighter.

Sasuke looks down over the edge, a little fascinated at being so high up. The clan is staring at him now, smiles and questioning glances, and he feels a little shy.

“Do you want to get down?” Shisui asks quietly, worried that Sasuke will be too shy to speak.

But Sasuke shakes his head, takes a deep breath, and asks a completely different question than Shisui had expected.

“Can you help me find my soulmate?” He asks, his high-pitched voice clear as a bell. There are a few smiles from the children in the crowd, but most of the clan has seen Sasuke injured or heard him crying already. They aren’t smiling.

“My soulmate gets hurt a lot, and I want to help them, but I don’t know who they are!” Sasuke calls, his worry clear, tears starting to prickle his eyes. “I want to make them all better, so I need to find them. Can you help me?” His voice is a little watery now, fear and nerves and stress pushing him close to tears.

His soulmate had gotten really hurt that morning while Sasuke was brushing his teeth, and Sasuke’s entire arm had turned really dark colors, almost as dark as his clothes, and he’d dropped his toothbrush into the sink. The inside of his arm had _hurt,_ a deep throb of pain pulsing out from the _bone._ It was gone after a few seconds, but Sasuke had curled up into a ball and hugged himself tight with his uninjured arm and sobbed as quietly as he could.

That’s why he’s asking for help now.

He hates seeing his family’s sadness over his soulmate’s pain.

He hates not being able to protect them all.

If he rescues his soulmate, the pain will stop and everyone will be happy, but… 

How can he rescue his soulmate if he doesn’t know who they are?

Maybe someone else knows?

“Please help me,” he whispers through the pain in his heart. “I need to find them.”

Shisui scoops him up in a tight hug and answers for the clan.

“Of course we’ll help.”

Sasuke looks up at Shisui, his big eyes full of tears, and Shisui forces his smile to stay in place.

“We’ll all help,” he answers. “See?”

He turns Sasuke to look out over the clan, and every person in the crowd, the entire Uchiha clan, is nodding. Sasuke looks out over determined and sympathetic faces and starts crying in earnest. It takes him a few moments to compose himself again, but Shisui waits patiently until he manages to choke out a strained, “Thank you!”

Shisui dismisses the clan for the day with a casual wave and jumps back down to Mikoto, passing Sasuke over to her. She wraps him up in her arms and whispers reassurances into his ear as he sobs into her shoulder. Itachi grips Shisui’s elbow for a moment in thanks, then joins his mother, calming Sasuke enough that his tears subside into quiet sniffles.

It’s going to take a long time before they see any changes in Konoha’s attitude, Shisui knows.

The entire clan knows that.

But he can already see the changes taking root. Families are smiling at each other, comforting and supporting each other, looking at their clan head gently smoothing down his son’s hair as he cries and nodding in approval.

They’re changing already, and each day is going to bring them one step closer to reconciliation.

They just have to keep walking.

One step at a time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Child abuse mention: Near the end, Sasuke describes feeling his arm bruise and break internally, implying that his soulmate is experiencing the same thing. T-T
> 
> So I'm not totally satisfied with this, but it's been sitting on my computer for at least a week and I just need to move on.
> 
> This ended up a whole hell of a lot longer than I intended. This chapter was supposed to have four scenes around 1k each. Instead it’s one 5k scene. OTL.  
> (I once wrote a 52 page paper for a master’s level course. The professor only required 20 pages. 8D )
> 
> Um, so the first three pages of this chapter were supposed to fit into a paragraph. I guess I’m having more Fugaku Feels™ than I thought…
> 
> You might notice there are now some honorifics. I’ll go back and change ‘Mother’ and ‘Father’ to ‘Okaasan’ and ‘Otousan’ as well. I love honorifics, but I’m always really nervous about writing them for some reason. I’m biting the bullet and GOING FOR IT. Edit: Did it, honorifics are up!
> 
> Please politely let me know if you find any errors!
> 
> Fic title and chapter title from Rescue by Lauren Daigle - Joey Stamper Cover.
> 
> Comments are the only sustenance I need. (I'm lying, I need sleep too, but you can't help me with that. NO ONE can help me with that. Muahahahahaaa!)
> 
> Come scream at me on tumblr. I'm Sendryl there too.
> 
> Edit: Yes, this fic is still alive, I've rewritten the next chapter like six times. Ugh. It's getting there! Not abandoning it, just having issues.


	5. On the Wheel of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It takes a year, but things slowly start to change for the better.
> 
> Starting with Mikoto and Fugaku and a political proposal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!!! There's never been a moment this fic was forgotten, promise.  
> I wrote up a long author's note on tumblr about the uhhh four months of silence (lol whoops) and why that happened, which I'll link in the end notes. Seriously, I've been working on this chapter on and off the whole time. Pretty sure I've rewritten this chapter about ten times now.
> 
> Child abuse mentions are also in the end notes.
> 
> Thanks for sticking with this story, and for caring so much. Love you guys.  
> No one's going to be forgotten, I promise.
> 
> Also.
> 
> THERE’S FANART OH MY GOD YOU GUYS I’M FLIPPING OUT  
> FANART  
> I CAN’T EVEN  
> IT’S SO CUTE AND HEARTBREAKING AND GAAAAAH  
> I love fandom. I love us. I just… I love being a part of a community that’s so fun and cool and just creates such amazing content!!!  
> THANK YOU  
> (I may now own a t-shirt with this fanart on it, shh it's the best I'm in love it's gorgeous)
> 
> [Everything is going to be okay by rabisacos](https://rabisacos.tumblr.com/post/190830856216/well-this-fic-by-sendryl-is-breaking-my-heart)
> 
> This is also blanket permission from me to create whatever fanart you want from my writing, seriously. I will walk around the house like a moron and scream for hours. I may cry. ...I will absolutely cry.
> 
> Last thing, this chapter and the next few are going to be brief snippets from the year following the Uchiha deciding not to go through with the coup.
> 
> Enjoy!

It takes a year.

A year before Sasuke is allowed out of the compound on his own. A year of his soulmate's bruises and cuts and broken bones, leaving Sasuke with a few seconds of pain and quiet tears released where no one can see them. A year of writing his injuries on a scroll and posting it to the inside of the gate, where it's visible to anyone leaving the compound, because if Sasuke isn't allowed to go look for his soulmate someone has to look in his place. He won't leave his soulmate to suffer while he waits safely at home.

A year of training body and mind, sweat and blood staining the earth of Mikoto's favorite courtyard as she claws her way back up to the ideal she maintained before she chose to stay home with her sons, training to be ready to fight whoever is hurting Sasuke's soulmate. A year of working with Fugaku to draft reforms for the police force and reopen their employment to all Konoha shinobi.

A year of investigations and careful political maneuvering amongst Fugaku's fellow clan heads, quiet conversations and favors offered and cashed in, council meetings with the Hokage and reviews with his own family council afterward. A year of pushing reforms forward inch by careful inch.

A year of missions and meetings held in secret with betrayal under Itachi's tongue, Shisui complicit beside him as they wend their way carefully through Konoha’s shadows, avoiding the attention of its roots as best they can. A year of building reputations for always being willing to help a fellow shinobi of the leaf, and for  _ never _ leaving anyone behind.

A year of missions and movements so fast they escape even Itachi's sight, as Shisui pushes himself for even a split second more speed, anything to save the lives of those around him. A year of searching out his fellow Uchiha for games and jokes and comfort when they need it, harmless pranks sending surprised laughter spilling out across the village, the plan growing and changing and taking on a life of its own.

A year of the Uchiha reaching out and making connections and yes,  _ smiling. _

A year of all the Uchiha searching for Sasuke's soulmate.

It takes a year.

***

Mikoto doesn’t need as many of Shisui’s lessons as some do, so instead of practicing her smiles and her tone of voice and her small talk - practicing the little ways to get the village to let down its guard, to force Konoha to stop painting the Uchiha with an inaccurate brush, to break their perception of the Uchiha as unfeeling and coldly aloof and  _ cruel, _ and begin to reverse all the small ways they’ve been systematically excluded from the village they helped found and grow - she starts training again.

She pulls her old jounin uniform out of storage and cleans it meticulously, checking seams and pockets for strains and flaws, and the first time she dresses for battle again Mikoto feels  _ magnificent. _ She heads out to her favorite private courtyard, the one with the small rock garden that forces her to mind her steps and chakra usage, and she moves through katas and jutsus with pinpoint precision so she doesn’t shift a single stone out of place.

It is unorthodox to practice within the rock garden instead of outside it, but Mikoto knows that’s the bare minimum of typical jounin eccentricity. She feels no shame.

Pushing herself through another kata, she grimaces at the burn and stretch of muscles grown tight from disuse.

Mikoto may have retired in order to raise her sons, but she was an absolute terror of a jounin back in her active days. The day the Bingo book listed her retirement, the elemental nations breathed a sigh of relief. They cried with joy when Kushina retired shortly after.

She and Kushina used to laugh about how many heart attacks they’d cause when they went back on active duty. They’d talk about future missions and discuss new ideas for when they would fight at each other's side again, and grumble about recovering from pregnancy and birth together… Mikoto still remembers how much they were looking forward to raising their children together.

Those memories still ache.

And she can’t even raise--

Mikoto finishes her kata with a hard kick, and one of the carefully-balanced stones wobbles briefly before settling. She sighs in frustration, at both her thoughts and her loss of control. She’s got some work to do.

Considering that Sasuke is still a young child, she’s not going to apply for active duty any time soon. As intelligent and serious and determined as Sasuke is, as old as he seems, he’s still her baby boy. And with everything that’s been happening, everything Itachi and Shisui have implied… There’s no way she’s leaving Konoha.

Depending on how their plans turn out, she might never leave Konoha again.

Mikoto grits her teeth, flashing through hand signs for a mid-level Katon jutsu, warming up her mind and her chakra along with the garden.

She might never take another mission, she might never need all her old skills, but she’s going to regain them anyway. After all, she’s not at all sure who’s hurting Sasuke’s soulmate.

She’s certain now that they’re experiencing abuse, that the repeated bruising and broken bones are not normal injuries from training. The fact that Sasuke has woken them all in the dead of night multiple times with his screams, bruises and cuts blossoming and vanishing, his arms breaking in multiple places… That isn’t training. Not in the dead of night, over and over again. Not when one night Mikoto woke to Sasuke’s quiet sobs as bruises faded in and out of existence for hours on end. The brutally-lengthy beating only happened once, but it was enough to strike the possibility of training incidents from Mikoto’s mind for good.

She struggles to maintain enough focus to keep her jutsu from burning out of control. She’s purposely pushing her own buttons, working hard to resurrect the clinical precision and cool detachment that has always made her such a deadly opponent. She’s going to need to be able to fight through tempestuous fury once she finds her enemies, after all.

Mikoto starts a higher-level jutsu, hands flowing smoothly between signs.

She would consider that Sasuke’s soulmate could be going out on missions that go awry, could be wounded or facing heavy opposition or even captured, but the wounds aren’t right for that. The wounds would be far more deadly if that were the case. Bruises and cuts and broken arms aren’t typical methods of torture, either.

When Sasuke’s soulmate gets hurt, it isn’t training, they aren’t on missions, they aren’t a prisoner in some hidden bolthole.

It could almost be vicious bullying, but the length of time this has been happening and the sheer amount of injuries doesn’t match up with that. A parent would notice if their child was being bullied to that extent, and would surely take their child to the hospital. A friend would notice. A teammate would notice.

And it wouldn’t be consistently happening in the middle of the night.

Mikoto is certain that it’s abuse.

She brings her hands to her mouth, shapes a tunnel of air with her tongue, and  _ roars _ a phoenix of molten flame across the garden.

There’s a very good reason why nearly all Uchiha gardens are rock gardens.

Her phoenix soars across the stones, flapping powerful wings and scorching the ground with little licks of flame. Mikoto grins to see her old friend again, the jutsu she and Kushina designed, the flames that sent many an enemy to their grave. She might end up needing it again soon.

Someone in a position of power over Sasuke’s soulmate is hurting them. The hospital had told her that they hadn’t admitted anyone matching Sasuke’s marks, when Mikoto had gone to them with her list of his more recent marks, which lends even more credence to her theory. The nurses may have glared as they spoke, they may not have wanted to give out information to an Uchiha, but they couldn’t deny Sasuke his soulmate rights.

Mikoto is very, very thankful for soulmate rights.

Mainly because, when they find Sasuke’s soulmate, Mikoto and Fugaku will be given joint guardianship over them with their own parents. Once Sasuke finds them, they will gain all his rights and connections, including family ties. The Uchiha have always taken soulmate rights seriously, and it was one of the first things they added to the charter when the village was founded. The founders wanted to be able to take care of their soulmates properly, and Mikoto knows that the Uchiha still feel the same way.

All that means that when Mikoto finds Sasuke’s soulmate, she can protect them as she would her own sons. She can take vengeance for them. She can kill for them, if necessary.

And if she finds out it’s their own parents who are hurting them, well. Joint guardianship won’t be an issue. She and Fugaku will take them in as a ward of the Uchiha clan, place them with a trustworthy family, and ensure that they are protected entirely.

With a pulse of her chakra and a swift stroke of its wings, her phoenix rises suddenly, wrapping fiery feathers around a nonexistent opponent before bursting into a raging tower of flame, a swirling inferno spiraling high into the open air above the garden.

With all the facts she’s gathered and all the other possibilities she’s been forced to discard, she has to conclude that Sasuke’s soulmate is being abused.

They could be being hurt by one person or by many, by civilians or by shinobi. They could even be being hurt by ANBU, for all she knows.

Mikoto slowly pushes the flames down, forcing them to spiral tighter and tighter, crushing her mysterious enemy and burying them within a solid pillar of flame. She guides the fire up, throwing it up into the air above the garden, a beacon and a warning for any near enough to see. It’s not her fault that the only people near enough are those within the compound.

She’s certainly not going to mourn if her opponent is caught unawares.

Mikoto settles into another stance, noticing that some of the rocks have tumbled from their perches with the force of her Phoenix Flight jutsu. A waste of chakra and a sign of her lack of control. She sets her jaw.

She needs to be ready to mete out punishment, no matter who the abuser turns out to be.

She needs to be in top form, prepared for any eventuality.

So she trains.

***

His soulmate speaks to him in bruises and broken bones, bright sharp flashes of pain that fade in moments, and Sasuke's grown used to the near-constant communication.

It feels somewhat like a greeting, like a quiet query after his day, much of the time. There are still times when he wakes in the middle of the night and endures flares of pain and sleepless hours of worry and misery, but even that tells him what is happening to his soulmate at that instant.

Even that seems like some kind of terrible form of communication, a shriek and a plea and a cry for help, and Sasuke always responds as best he can.

His soulmate speaks to him multiple times a day, and has for as long as Sasuke can remember.

***

All year long, Sasuke puts up his scroll by the front gate. In his careful kanji, he lists his soulmate's injuries, and every Uchiha checks the scroll before they leave the compound. They know what to look for, which injuries will be visible, which will show themselves as stilted movements or careful breaths. A bruise one day, a broken collarbone the next, a twisted wrist, a jagged scratch that burned like fire.

They search for a child with a history of injuries and prominent facial scars.

And Sasuke knows they’re searching hard for his sake, and he trusts them to do their best. He trusts that if someone found his soulmate, they would tell him right away.

But he still asks them for news. He asks every Uchiha he sees returning to the compound at the end of each day. He can’t stop himself. It becomes a common sight to see Sasuke standing at the front gate, greeting the returning shinobi and civilians with smiles and thanks for their hard work and a quiet question.

They always let him ask.

Their answer is always the same.

“Did you find them?”

“No. Not yet.”

***

The first time Mikoto sees the scroll and reads the words and realizes what Sasuke’s doing, she smiles at him and praises his good thinking. She smiles as she forces herself to get through the day, going through all the motions of keeping the compound running and training and feeding her family and keeping Sasuke occupied.

Only once the boys are asleep does she break down.

Her quiet sobs break the silence in their bedroom, startling Fugaku as he pulls back the comforter on the futon.

She cries to Fugaku about how she’s slowly come to realize that Sasuke’s soulmate must be a child after all, and that she’s sure now that it’s a child in the village and why didn’t they realize sooner? This child -- her son’s  _ soulmate _ who she’s supposed to help him find and help him protect -- they’re out there somewhere, hurting and alone, and no one has stopped it. No one has protected them and kept them safe from whoever is hurting them.

What if they don’t have any parents at all? There were so many children orphaned by the Kyyubi’s attack, why didn’t they think of this sooner?

It’s always been the Uchiha way to adopt orphaned soulmates into the clan, so once they find this child they can keep them safe, there are many Uchiha families who would be willing to raise them with love and peace and care.

But what if they aren’t an orphan after all and it’s their parents who are hurting them? And how many other children are out there being hurt and she feels so  _ useless _ and… Mikoto cries herself to sleep for the first time Fugaku’s ever seen, hopeless and drawn and utterly exhausted.

Fugaku sits up all night, even though there’s a council meeting in the morning, holding Mikoto in his arms as she sleeps and he spends the night planning. He watches her breaths as he carefully plots out points and goals and the steps to reach them, drafting a proposal as the night paints his soulmate’s face in moonlight.

Mikoto has always been strong and capable. For their entire lives, she’s been a pillar and a beacon to him, a true partner, always at his side to support him or at his back to defend him.

He knows he’s often failed to be the same for her, especially lately. He’s the one who had thought the coup would succeed. He’s the one who almost ruined them all.

He doesn’t even want to think about what would’ve happened, if they attempted to go ahead with the coup and the Hokage already knew about their plans.

If he’s not careful, if he thinks about it too hard, he’ll end up recalling images of his own blood-soaked failures, captured by his Sharingan and never to be forgotten. He’s lost so many people -- officers under his command, teammates during the war, fellow Uchiha on missions gone awry.

He doesn’t want to close his eyes. In the silence of the night, it would be all too easy to add his family’s faces to the perfectly-preserved memories in his mind’s eye.

Instead, he watches moonlight slide along the flawless curve of Mikoto’s cheek, thinks of Itachi’s words and Shisui’s encouragement, Sasuke’s fragile hope, and plans a different path he can just barely see. A path that will help lead them to peace.

When Mikoto wakes with the dawn to go out and train, he rises and carefully drafts his proposal. He has a first draft ready when Mikoto reappears, breathing hard, determination written in the straightness of her spine.

Curiosity and confusion are plain on her face as she takes the scroll from his outstretched hand and makes her way to the desk. By the time he’s left the room, she’s already engrossed in reading his blunt words, the thoughts that kept him occupied through the night.

While Mikoto reads the first draft and presumably turns it into a proposal the Hokage won’t be able to ignore, Fugaku makes breakfast for them all. Rice and eggs and miso, grilled fish and chopped vegetables, a simple meal for the busy day ahead of them. He has his meeting with the clan council and Mikoto has been planning to head to a teahouse with Shisui’s mother for the afternoon, so they won’t need to pack a lunch for the day.

Itachi and Sasuke are planning to train all morning though, so Fugaku packs bentos for both his sons. Making sure to include cherry tomatoes for Sasuke, he only hesitates for a moment before carefully slicing carrot strips to form a simple smile atop Itachi’s rice. Sasuke’s bento gets a heart. Picturing their smiles when they take their lunch break helps him brush his embarrassment aside. He’s gotten a lot better at putting aside his pride for his family’s sake, but he can sometimes still hear his own father’s voice in his mind, sneering at how soft he’s become. How weak. Bringing shame to their clan just as he always predicted.

His father’s mocking laughter sends a slight tremor through his hands as Fugaku sets the table, but the moment doesn’t last.

Mikoto comes flying into the room, a freshly-annotated scroll tucked under one arm, hope in her smile and gratitude in her hands as they clasp Fugaku’s own and tug him close. Sasuke walks in just as Mikoto kisses him, and their son’s childish disgust makes them both laugh.

Itachi smiles as he steps in and guides Sasuke to his seat, and breakfast is full of laughter and light and growing happiness. All the little things that make Fugaku’s life truly worthwhile. All things Fugaku had thought would soon be lost, only a few months ago.

He looks around at his family as they eat the food he’s prepared, Mikoto’s hope and Itachi’s peaceful smiles bolstering his own, and in the face of their joy his father’s specter fades to nothing.

He spends the rest of the morning carefully rewriting the scroll with Mikoto leaning over his shoulder. Splashing from the kitchen sink is quickly followed by Sasuke’s giggles and Itachi’s gentle scolding as the boys clean up the breakfast dishes.

Fugaku leaves the compound, scroll in hand, a new path forward detailed inside.

Mikoto’s midnight tears, Fugaku’s early morning plans.

Her watertight wording and his own careful calligraphy.

A lifetime of partnership embodied in a single scroll.

***

There’s no reason for the Hokage to turn down the program Fugaku proposes.

Mikoto has planned for every possible rebuttal and issue that could be brought up, and though some of the council tries to stop him, Fugaku uses his soulmate’s words to push the proposal forward. Danzo grits his teeth as Fugaku maneuvers past every obstacle he lays, but Hiruzen starts to smile. The thought of all the good the police force could do for Konoha, all the people they could help. It seems the Uchiha are working to help the rest of Konoha after all.

The KMP Anti Abuse Initiative will do more good for Konoha than Hiruzen could ever dream.

When Fugaku takes the scroll back at the end of the meeting, with the Hokage’s stamp and the council’s reluctant approval, he doesn’t need to remember Itachi’s tea to smile, small but victorious.

Mikoto's relief and resolve when he presents her with the scroll is glorious, and the fiery approval in her eyes is a victory all its own.

***

The Uchiha search for a child with a history of injuries and prominent facial scars.

They find others, children who have fallen out of trees or hurt their friends in play. Civilian children and Academy dropouts playing at being shinobi and hurting themselves with weapons and movements they aren’t able to handle. Children in terrible circumstances that should have been obvious to anyone with half a brain, children who end up shivering in the police station while kind officers with red, red eyes soothe them with blankets and hot chocolate and promises that they fully intend to keep.

The Uchiha search for one specific child in need, and instead they find others who desperately need their help. And they give it willingly, without reservation.

Whispers start to rise in the poorer parts of Konoha, among the children on the street corners, quiet advice passed from darting eyes to bloodied mouths, gossip and raised hopes that the police might actually help, if the right officer hears what’s happening at home.

The officer with the kind eyes, they whisper. The one with spiky hair who smells like orange blossoms. The one with scars on their hands and snacks shaped like pandas in their vest pockets.

The officers who come to find them in the alleys and slums, with food and blankets and bandages, with gentle words and hands that glow with soft green chakra.

The ones who smile patiently and don’t interrupt or urge them to move along.

It takes a while for the trust to build, but the police force becomes more than a group of shinobi to monitor shinobi. They become a place of safety and a helping hand to those who need it. A haven.

The Uchiha may not find Sasuke’s soulmate, but that does not mean they have failed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Child abuse mentions: Briefly mentioned bruises and cuts and broken bones, references to Sasuke waking up screaming from pain from broken arms, bruises from a lengthy beating, Mikoto thinking about and breaking down over child abuse, reference to a broken collarbone and twisted wrist. There are also vague references to other abused children in Konoha, abuse at home and bloodied mouths.
> 
> Oof. Writing those warnings always makes me sad.
> 
> Here's the link to the long [author's note](https://sendryl.tumblr.com/post/621836972177145857/long-authors-note).
> 
> You might be wondering if there's going to be another four months of silence. I hope not, but I'm not going to make any promises as far as a writing schedule goes. I have a busy life and a lot of anxiety tied up in this fic now. So I've got no idea when the next chapter will be out.
> 
> But.
> 
> I know where this fic is going, even if I don't know how many chapters it's going to be, lol. I've got about 18k of future scenes written up already, I've just got to write the next chapter now instead of focusing on stuff way down the line.
> 
> I love this fic, I love these boys, I love this family. I have a future planned out for them, and although it might take a while to get there, we will get there. :)
> 
> Chapter title from [I Am The One Who Will Remember Everything by Dar Williams](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NjB6gUbAMk).
> 
> Thanks for reading! I still love comments, but please be kind.


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